Start and Completion Times for Your Goals

To be useful, a goal must possess three attributes, or characteristics.

To make a goal useful, the third requirement is that it must have a clear start and completion time/date.

• The goals you choose must have a clear starting time so you know when to begin working toward that goal. Each goal must also have a clear completion time or date so you will know when it has to be completed. It is important to know when you will start working toward reaching a goal (for example, when you will start working on a paper for one of your classes) and when you have to stop (for example, when you must turn in the paper).

• When you pick your specific starting time or date, make sure you have given yourself enough time to finish. Sometimes we run into unexpected problems and adding some extra time at the beginning can help us to have enough time to finish by our completion date.

• Be sure to also give yourself a finishing point, an end time or date, so you can check your progress and give yourself a reward once you get there.

For example:

Instead of saying, "I will get my class papers done this semester," you could say, "I will start my first English paper on September 12th and complete it by September 28th."

If you said, "I will study math each night," you could say, "I will spend from 8 - 9:30 studying math each weekday."

Click to open Activity #10, Part C and follow the directions.